Praetor
by Incarnation of Madness
Summary: All hail the new Mother of Machines
1. Prologue: A Dream Better Left Forgotten

Prologue: **A Dream Better Left Forgotten**

Taylor silently stepped out of the car and followed her father towards the house. Taylor kept her eyes fixed on the ground as they approached. Looking at the house reminded her of how empty it was, how without her mother it was just the empty shell of a home.

As she stepped inside she felt tears well up in her eyes and she ran to her room without giving her father so much as a word. Lying down on the bed she focused her eyes and the blank white ceiling and tried to clear her funeral had been painful, a seemingly series of mourners telling her that everything would be okay. As if they could understand what it meant to go home and her mother coming with, and knowing that it was her fault.

The thought of the phone call with which she ended her mother's life was too much for her emotions to bear and she began to cry for what felt like countless hours before finally exhaustion took her and she drifted off to sleep.

In her dreams she saw a still world covered what appeared to be a thick metal jungle, but one completely devoid of motion or sound. Before she could explore her form seemed to slip through the floor and she was presented with an impossibly vast wasteland of metal and scrap that seemed to have fallen from the jungle above. Her form continued to descend through more layers and she was made to bear witness to to more impossible landscapes. Great cities gone silent, vast oceans of black oil completely still, great furnaces left cold. Down she went until she reached what she assumed to be the center of this world, a massive temple suspended in the center of a hollow sphere. As she looked at the temple the word 'Sanctuary' came to her mind, unbidden.

No longer being pulled to ever lower levels Taylor entered the great temple and began to explore. The entrance hall was vast and ornate, but once she had gotten deeper into the temple the rooms became smaller and it began to feel more lived in. Further she delved until she reached a locked door, and for the first time since arriving on the metal world heard something behind her.

Taylor turned as saw a what she could only describe as a demon. Its frame was tall and thin, covered in white armor that appeared to be made out of ceramic. Where the armor gave way she could see red pulsating flesh with black veins running through. Out of the creatures back she could see two large protrusions that looked like they were made of vertebrae, where they ended large wings white wings unfolded and she could see veins of red running through them. The demon's arms looked as though the ended in vicious talons and in one of them was grasped a scepter as taller even then the creature. The demon's head was long and curved, at the base there was a large mouth filled with jagged teeth and above that there were four slits for eyes. At its neck two black curved spines protruded, each branching off into short spikes at regular distances. The way the spines framed the creature's head gave off the impression of a crown.

From the monstrosity Taylor heard a deep and resonant voice ask, "What are you doing here, child?"

Taylor responded by screaming and willing herself to wake from this nightmare.

The demon stepped forward and Taylor felt her breath catch, ending the scream. It bent down and looked Taylor in the eye. Too scared to even move Taylor met the creatures stare, as the moments ticked by Taylor felt a dark thought replace the fear, that this was not a demon but an angel delivering her punishment for being the cause her mother's death. Looking deep into the creatures eyes she readied herself for the inevitable only for it to turn away and disappear into the shadows.

As soon as the creature was gone Taylor took a deep breath and collapsed to the ground. She forced the dark thought out of her mind, thinking of what it would do to her father should she die.

Finally Taylor stood back up intent on leaving the temple and returning home, but before she could another form stepped out of the shadows. This time instead of the creature a tall man with jet black hair stood before her. With the same voice as the demon he asked, "Is this form more acceptable?"

Confused, Taylor asked, "Who are you? What was that thing earlier?"

The man smiled, but the expression felt wrong on his features, "I am Yawgmoth, and that thing earlier was myself, just in another form."

Taylor paused, "What do you mean another form, are you a cape? Are you the one who brought me here?"

As Taylor asked the question she swore she felt something skimming across her thoughts, but the feeling passed momentarily and Yawgmoth answered her questions. "No I am not a 'cape', as you say, I am… was the god of this world. I created all you saw on your way down here. I am also not the one who brought you here, that is beyond my power."

Taylor considered for a moment whether or not the man before her was insane calling himself a god, but this entire world was impossible and probably was just a dream so she let it go. Finally she asked, "Do you know how I could leave?"

The man responded, "I expect you will leave when you awaken from your slumber, but until then would you like to join me? It has been a long time since I have had someone to speak with."

Not seeing any other options Taylor acquiesced and followed the man through the hallways. As she followed him she noticed he moved stiffly and clumsily but was gradually growing more confident as they moved through the temple. Eventually he reached the door he was apparently looking for and opened it to a comfortable looking room with an ornate table at the center. Yawgmoth sat at the table and Taylor sat across from him.

"Well, child, considering you are here what would you like to know about this world?"

Taylor responded, only somewhat petulantly, "My name is Taylor, not child."

Yawgmoth smiled at the response, "Well then Taylor, what would you like to know?"

Taylor paused for a moment considering her options before asking, "You said you were the god of this world, what happened to it?"

Yawgmoth's expression grew wistful as he answered, "That is quite the long story, are you certain that is what you want to know?"

Taylor nodded and so Yawgmoth began, "Long ago, before I became a god I was a doctor, one obsessed with rooting out the imperfections of mortal existence and conquering death."

Taylor listened to the story enraptured with how he had wandered his original world researching new medicines and powers to cure disease and how the people feared his knowledge. How he had convinced someone called a planeswalker to bring him to this world in order to try and create his paradise. How once on this world he had succeeded, creating a world where death was never random from accident or disease but always served a greater purpose for the world at large. How he had discovered that his world was doomed to die and that he and his people needed to leave. How the other worlds refused the gifts he offered in exchange for shelter. How in the end they invaded Phyrexia and leaving his people to die on their doomed world.

As the story ended Taylor asked, "If you are dead and your world is destroyed, how are we sitting here and talking?"

"Yawgmoth is dead Taylor, but when a god dies the end is not so clean. What you are talking to now is not Yawgmoth in truth but instead the imprint of his Will left upon the blind eternities. Now I sit here left alone inside a dead Phyrexia, a monument to his failure and how close he came to succeeding. All I get to do is talk to beings with a similar Will every once in a while as they dream."

Taylor felt a pang of empathy for the man's lonely existence, but the man continued, "Do not pity me, Taylor. It is a reasonable punishment for one who failed Phyrexia, and the upside is it allows me to meet interesting people such as yourself."

Taylor preened slightly at the praise before asking her next question, "Why did the other worlds hate Phyrexia so much. You were offering them your knowledge of how to supplant death, why would they refuse?"

Yawgmoth looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, "When you saw my original form why were you afraid?"

Taylor thought back. The demon was terrifying and appeared like it could kill her without a thought, but the fear was more visceral than that. Back home a normal looking person could be strong enough to rip her in half or have the ability to create metal spikes out of nothing and impale her with them, yet she wasn't that scared of strangers. Finally she settled on an answer, "Because it looked unnatural. Like it was something that shouldn't exist."

Yawgmoth smiled at her answer, "Exactly, Taylor. Death is a natural part of life and limiting it as much as I did is unnatural. The other worlds feared the changes I would bring and worried that they would lose part of themselves if they accepted my offer."

Taylor felt confused, death was terrible why would anyone want it to persist, but in the end she decided to accept the explanation for now and move on to her next question, "Why did you stop at limiting death I thought you wanted to conquer it."

"Death is still a necessary part of life, and becoming truly immortal would just lead to stagnation. In Phyrexia death only occured naturally when one was ready to leave the world to their successors, or when it was necessary for the betterment of all of Phyrexia. It wasn't perfect, there was still conflict between various factions in Phyrexia and murder was still a problem. But death to accidents or disease was unheard of. They had achieved a perfection of form to the point that Will was required to end their lives."

A world without pointless death, one where her mother would still be alive. Taylor asked her final question, "Is there any way I could learn how to conquer Death?"

Yawgmoth didn't answer right away this time instead just meeting her gaze. Taylor wanted to avert her eyes but held firm and stared back. Finally he spoke, "That is a long and hard rode Taylor, are you certain that is what you want?"

Keeping her eyes fixed on his she replied, "Yes."

Yawgmoth's voice grew deeper as he continued, "Your people will hate and fear you. If you want to spread your gift they will resist. Once they understand what you have become they will try and kill you. You will most likely have to take lives in order to create the world you want. So I ask again, are you certain that this is the path you desire?"

Again Taylor remained steady, "Yes."

"Once you start there will be no turning back, there is no way to reverse the process. So thrice I ask you, are you certain this is the path you desire?"

Again Taylor answered, a hint of frustration entering her voice, "Yes, this is what I desire." After all if she could conquer death how much harder would it be for her to learn how to reverse it.

Yawgmoth stood his veins turning pitch black on his pale skin, "Then kneel."

Taylor did so, her body almost responding without her input. Looking up she saw his eyes turn as black as his veins and a single drop of pitch black oil drop down his cheek as he spoke, his voice seemingly reverberating across the whole temple making it sound like the world was speaking rather than the man in front of her. "I, Yawgmoth, the Father of the Machines, declare Taylor Anne Hebert a Praetor of Phyrexia. She will carry my Will across the Blind Eternities.

Yawgmoth placed his hand on Taylor's head, "Do you accept this burden Taylor?"

Taylor felt her mouth go dry as she answered, the words coming to her lips almost unbidden, "I accept." As soon as she said it she felt a searing pain across her shoulder. The pain ended when Yawgmoth removed his hand from her head. Pulling up the sleeve she saw a jagged symbol etched into her shoulder of the deepest black color, a circle with a vertical line bisecting it."

Taylor stood up, her legs unsteady

"Follow me, Taylor. I will teach you how to sculpt the world you desire."

Taylor paused, "Will I be able to return, I'm worried a single night's lesson won't be enough."

Yawgmoth turned to her, his eyes returning to normal, "As long as you bear that mark you will be able to return here whenever you slumber.

* * *

Taylor awoke in her bed, still dressed in her clothes from the funeral. Pulling up her sleeve she looked at her unblemished shoulder. Taylor smirked at her flight of fancy, the ability to conquer death, of course something so ridiculous would be nothing more than a dream.

Standing from her bed she began to change her clothes only for a familiar pain to emanate from her shoulder. Wide eyed she rushed to the mirror and found the symbol once again scored into her flesh.

Still shocked she held out one unsteady palm and spoke the words of power Yawgmoth had taught her last night. Across the Blind Eternities came a single small vial of pitch black oil, materializing in her open palm.

Taylor quickly removed the cap before pausing, the open vial in her hand. Glancing around the room Taylor saw the photograph of her mother she kept on her bureau. With one final thought of undoing her sin Taylor closed her eyes and swallowed the contents of the vial.

* * *

**A/N: **Well this was a plot bunny that would not leave me alone. Do note that despite the fact that Taylor is the viewpoint character in the prologue she isn't going to continue to be a very common one going forward. This story is far more about the way Earth Bet responds to Phyrexia's encroachment then it is going to be about Taylor minmaxing Phyrexian tech and magic. I plan to post chapter 1 either this weekend or early next week, and that should give you a clearer idea of what direction I plan on taking this story.

As always I invite criticism of the work, I do write with the goal of improvement after all.


	2. Prey

**Prey**

Sophia glided over the gap between two buildings buildings, smiling as she landed on the other side. The best part of her power was that it allowed her to beat the shit out of gangbangers, but the second best part was the way it allowed her to move weightlessly through the air. It wasn't true flight like that Glory Girl bitch got, but it was close and it was hers. Plus it was a lot more subtle than flying around wearing bright white tights with a skirt and a fucking tiara.

Reaching the next rooftop Sophia paused and started to look down on the streets below. She was now in ABB territory and looking down she could already see gang members going about their business. Sadly if she just jumped down and started introducing them to the concrete, or even better the bolts from her crossbow, the local Protectorate would get pissed and start hunting her down. Apparently attempting to be effective fighting crime was worse than being a criminal. Still she didn't want to deal with that shit so it was better for her to wait for one of them to actually commit a crime that she could stop.

Thus Sophia began to search for her actual target, potential victims. Following around gang members was a waste of time nine times out of ten. Most the time they would just go about their business not doing anything obviously illegal except recreational drug use, which was apparently too small time for the PRT to endorse Cape involvement. If she got lucky she could find a dealer and do a drug bust, but that was the exception instead of the rule. Following potential victims was much more efficient. They stood out far more than the gang members making them easy to track, and if nothing happened they tended to leave dangerous areas quickly, meaning she wasn't stuck losing her evening tracking a bad lead.

Sophia's first lead was a young couple obviously strolling through the wrong part of town. Sophia pegged them for tourists judging by the camera the man had hanging around his neck, probably out trying to snap a pic of some capes. Glancing around she could already see the gang bangers noticing the couple and moving to head them off. Sophia silently glided into a point above the prepared ambush and waited, only to be disappointed when the couple turned unexpectedly and entered the docks.

Sophia suppressed a disappointed groan as the gangbangers disbanded. Less than a year ago the only difference the couple entering the docks would have made was that they would have been mugged by some Merchant thugs instead of ABB thugs, but things had changed and now it was considered one of the safer districts in the city. From what people were saying online the Dockworkers Union had apparently gone through a pretty miraculous recovery and had used their new resources to hire some security forces who then ousted the merchants. No one knew who exactly they had hired but whoever they were, they were strong enough to fuck up Skidmark and his forces when he tried to retaliate.

After it had happened Sophia had spent a couple of nights patrolling the area, hoping that the power vacuum would have made the area interesting, but they had been the most dull patrols she had ever done. The closest thing she had seen to a crime being committed were a couple of drunk bums pissing on a wall of an alley as they migrated to one of the new homeless shelters that were being set up there. Sophia had quickly went back to patrolling gang territory where at least she got to see some action.

The next potential victim she had spotted had been just as much of a bust as the first, this time it was just a john picking up a prostitute, which was another crime where the authorities got all pissy if she beat the crap out of the offending parties.

On the third potential victim she knew that she had hit pay dirt. It was a middle aged man driving a girl about her age right through the middle of ABB territory. Based on the car and the direction they were going Sophia guessed that they were taking an idiotic shortcut to the boardwalk.

Looking ahead of the car she could already see some bangers setting up the ambush. Sophia quickly moved into position above the alley where the muggers were coordinating and waited.

The car turned down the narrow road and the bangers sprang their trap, rolling two vans out of some alleyways blocking the road and trapping the car between them. A one-eyed man climbed out of the van in front of the car lazily pointing a gun at the driver. Three more muggers climbed out of the two vans and the occupants of the car put their hands up in the sign of surrender. Sophia prepped her crossbow as the victims followed the instructions of the one-eyed man and entered the alleyway she was perched over.

Her crossbow ready Sophia looked at the victims. The man didn't look like anything special other than being reasonably fit for his age. Judging by the clothes he wore and the car he drove she had him pegged as being a doctor or a lawyer. The daughter was her age and pretty with a mane of bright red hair. Her face pinged a memory and Sophia thought she recognized the girl from school.

When the pair reached the back of the alley one-eye told them to turn around and keep their hands up, then he signaled to his fellow gang members. Two of the men walked up to the father and started demanding that he hand over his wallet and keys, describing what they would do to him if he failed to comply. The third man walked over to the daughter and grabbed her face before leaning in to inspect it.

Sophia felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, this whole thing felt wrong. Neither victim seemed to be reacting correctly, the father was calmly pulling out his wallet and the girl still hadn't even made so much as a noise. Normally Sophia would have just written them off as cowards and waited until after the mugging was completed to beat the shit out of the gang bangers, no need for her to risk her hide going into a more complicated scenario just to protect some cowards who wouldn't even stand up for themselves, but they weren't showing any of the normal signs. No groveling or begging for their lives, they looked more bored than anything else.

The man inspecting the daughter released her and turned to his comrades and said something in Japanese. The whole group started to laugh at whatever he said only to be cut off by a sickening crunching noise as the daughter thrust her hand straight through the man's chest, his heart clenched between her fingers.

Sophia stared in shock as the ganbangers started to scream. The daughter pulled her arm out of the man's chest and the body fell to the floor as she tossed the heart behind her.

The men who had been mugging the father turned to flee the alleyway, but they did not even get two steps before a popping sound came from the father and they fell to the ground with spikes sticking out of their backs.

As this happened one-eye raised his gun to fire on the pair but the daughter closed the gap between them too fast for Sophia to follow her movements. Before one-eye could pull the trigger the daughter grabbed his gun hand and Sophia heard a horrific crunching noise as both he gun and the hand holding it were reduced to pulp in the girl's grip.

One-eye let out a guttural scream at the loss of his hand, and turned to run. In response the girl raised one hand and red electricity arced out of it and straight into one-eye's back, causing him to collapse to the ground.

Sophia's attention was then pulled off of one-eye by a low moaning sound. Looking over she saw the two bangers who had attacked the father each curled up in the fetal position violently shivering, their skin covered in sickening pustules. One pulled himself to his knees and tried to crawl away only to stop as he started to puke blood. Moments later both of them stopped went still.

Above the two corpses stood the father, looking the same except for two new holes in the front of his shirt, each leaking a black liquid. He leaned down to inspect the corpses, a look of mild irritation flashing over his face, "I need to adjust the dosage, this one kills within an acceptable time frame but causes to much damage. I am estimating a thirty percent loss in usable material from the victims."

Standing up the father turned towards the daughter and asked, "Why did you attack? If we had let them finish their intentions it would have not risked drawing attention."

Sophia turned her attention back to the daughter who was now sitting on the ground having moved one-eye so she could put his head on her lap. She had also removed her blouse. Sophia's shock at this quickly turned to horror as the girl's chest opened up tearing her flesh apart. Inside the chest cavity were rows of metal appendages, two of them reached out of the cavity and to one of the ribs. The arms twisted the rib and out of it came what appeared to be a needle and some fleshy looking thread. Having grabbed the tools two more arms came out and reset the rib while the first two began to sow one-eye's mouth shut.

With a satisfied expression on her face the daughter finally looked up at the father and answered, "I wanted this one, he may be hideous now but I can see the potential in his form. I will make him into a masterpiece."

The father gave the daughter a flat look, "I know that the Praetor allows your flights of fancy but if you compromise her goals for your art then know there will be consequences."

The daughter's smile turned predatory, "The Art is worth the risk."

The father shook his head and pulled out his cell phone, "Well finish up an pull yourself together, I'll call this in and get a clean-up crew sent over."

The thought of more of these people arriving forced Sophia out of her stupor and she started slowly backing out from her perch. As she did so her foot slipped making an audible scuff across the rooftop. The father's head pivoted to an impossible angle looking right at her. Sophia heard a popping noise as she shifter into her shadow form and saw a spike pass right what had been her torso less than a moment earlier.

Turning Sophia dropped all pretenses of stealth and dropped into an all out sprint across the rooftops, trying to put as much distance between herself and the pair as possible. When her exhaustion finally took over and she was no longer able to run, she turned around and let out a sigh of relief seeing that she hadn't been followed.

Sophia shuffled over to a corner of the rooftop and puked, the only place she had seen anything like that had been some news reports of the aftermath of a Slaughterhouse Nine visit. She just wasn't prepared to deal with this shit. Sophia stood up and turned towards downtown, she needed backup.

* * *

Sophia looked up at the PRT building looming above her. Part of her wanted to just leave, getting involved with the authorities would be a massive hassle, but what she had just seen was to important especially with the indication that the pair wasn't alone. Sophia hesitated momentarily, considering if it would be less of a hassle to bring this to New Wave instead, before swallowing her pride and entering the facility.

The reception area was fairly busy, and her presence was immediately noticed. Sophia quickly walked towards the reception desk and was relieved as the crowd parted to let her through. The receptionist gave her a smile as she approached and said, "Shadow Stalker, what can the PRT help you with today?"

"I have something to report to the Protectorate, are any of them available?"

"Let me check." The receptionist picked up her phone and started dialing a number.

Sophia took a moment to look around the room, noting a bunch of tourists taking her picture. She was already regretting coming here, how did the PRT think they could actually solve any of the cities problems if they spent all their time giving tours to fucking tourists. Sophia heard the click of the phone being hung up and turned her attention back to the receptionist.

The receptionist smiled politely at her and said, "I am sorry but no members of the protectorate are currently here, if you are willing to wait Miss Militia is on her way and is interested in meeting with you."

Sophia scowled at the answer but nodded in acceptance of the offer.

A PRT trooper walked up and the receptionist gestured to him, "Please follow the trooper he will take you to an area you can wait."

Sophia did as instructed still scowling, once the trooper had gotten her away from the tourists he spoke up, "From what I was told Miss Militia will be a little while, would you like to meet the Wards as you wait?"

Sophia's scowl deepened, she would have rather gouged her eye out then be forced to spend time with that glorified publicity stunt that the PRT insisted were a team of teenage heroes. "I think I'll pass."

"Then come this way, I'll take you to one of the interrogation rooms so you can wait there." Sophia followed the trooper through a maze of hallways before entering a door. The room was a featureless square with a desk sitting in the middle, the only thing it was missing was a two way mirror on the side for it to look like an exact replica of an interrogation room from one of those shitty cop procedurals.

Sophia went to the desk and sat down in the chair facing that was facing the door, the trooper went to stand in the corner. After a few minutes of waiting the door opened and a woman who looked to be in her thirties walked inside. The woman walked over to the trooper and said something to him quietly, she then turned towards Sophia as the trooper silently left the room.

Sitting down across from Sophia the woman smiled and , "Hello, Shadow Stalker I am Agent Williams. It is nice to meet you." The woman reached out her hand to shake.

In response Sophia leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. Sophia smirked as the woman's smile became slightly stained and she put her arm down. "Well, I was hoping you could tell me what you are here for so I could start helping you."

Sophia replied, "I'm here to talk to Miss Militia, not some paper pusher with a badge."

The woman's smile fell away and she gave Sophia a flat glare, "Look here, you little shit, do you know what is going to happen after you give your story to Miss Militia?"

Sophia opened her mouth to respond but was cut off as Agent Williams continued, "She is going to have to turn around and report on it to the PRT, filling out a bunch of paperwork in the process. If you tell me whatever it is you plan on telling her then I can get that started and she can actually use her time to be a hero rather than waste it on paperwork."

Sophia looked at the agent, momentarily stunned. She felt a smile slip to her face, at least one person in this organization had balls and was more interested in letting the heroes actually be useful instead of shackling them with paperwork.

Sophia briefed Agent Williams on what happened, suppressing a wave of nausea when she got to the details of what had happened to the gang bangers. After the brief the agent looked up from her notes, "You said they mentioned Praetor?"

Sophia nodded, "Why have you heard of her?"

"Only in rumors. They say that she is a biotinker who can give powers. We've been trying to keep the rumors quiet, we didn't want a bunch of idiots to come hoping to get powers from her, but we didn't have any evidence she existed until now." The agent reached out her hand again, "Thank you, Shadow Stalker, with this information we should be able to get external help to track her down and eliminate her from this city."

This time Sophia took the offered hand and shook it. As she did she felt multiple pin pricks across the back of her hand and Agent Williams smile turned predatory. Looking down she saw needles extending from each of the woman's fingers and into the back of her hand. Sophia tried to slip into her shadow form but the whole world started to go blurry. As she fell to the desk and the world went dark she heard Agent Williams say, "You are blessed, Shadow Stalker, soon the Mother of Machines will accept you into her embrace."

* * *

Hannah quickly navigated the PRT headquarters towards the interrogation rooms. A young vigilante coming in to talk to the Protectorate like this was rare and it needed to be handled properly. Shadow Stalker was a young black girl beating up thugs in the city with the largest superpowered nazi population in the United States. If they didn't convince her to start working with the Wards soon Hannah wasn't sure how much longer she would survive.

As she approached the interrogation room Shadow Stalker was waiting in she saw Agent Williams standing vigil at the door. Hannah smiled at seeing her, her son had a chronic illness and had recently gone through another attack, if she was in the office again then he must have recovered.

As Hannah reached the door Agent Williams raised a finger to her lips and then quietly opened the door, looking inside the dark room she saw Shadow Stalker lying on a cot, her chest rising and falling at regular intervals. Hannah took a step back and Agent Williams carefully shut the door.

With the door closed Hannah spoke in a whisper, "What happened?"

Agent Williams matched her whisper as she responded, "She had a bad run in with the Empire, she wasn't willing to tell me all the details. I think the adrenalin wore off while she was waiting for you, the poor dear,"

Hannah asked "Do you think I should go in and talk with her?"

Agent Williams shook her head in response, "I don't think so, whatever happened scared her and she needs to rest. She already stated her intention to join the Wards so we should be able to get more information later."

Hannah was shocked, "Are you sure, her profile didn't suggest she would be the type to join up without convincing."

Agent Williams nodded, "She was very clear on that, she even told me her identity so I could help her get home. I was thinking that after she wakes up I should drive her home and talk to her parents."

Hannah considered, normally they would send a member of the Protectorate or a Ward to talk with the family, but if Shadow Stalker had already formed enough of a rapport with Agent Williams to trust her with her identity then she might be the better one to talk with the parents."All right, keep me informed if you find out more of what happened to her, if it was bad enough to convince her to join up we may need to start cracking down harder on their operations."

Agent Williams smiled, "Don't worry Miss Militia, I will keep you apprised of anything she tells me."

* * *

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Emma is probably my favorite character I have come up with. I wanted a different take on Red Phyrexian's than what was in New Phyrexia, even though I do think the Silent Forge is an awesome idea, and I ended up with an approach from Red's artistic side. If Emma gets here way she will make the whole Plane beautiful, you just need to understand her standard of beauty.


	3. Interview

**Interview**

Thomas sat in his office looking over the contract that Fortress Construction had been awarded to upgrade Brockton Bay's Endbringer shelters. There was a cold irony that this document was resulting in considerably more danger for him personally then forcefully taking territory from the Empire had. After all a body double could attend Coil's meetings, Thomas Calvert wasn't so lucky. Still with his power that wasn't really a problem, even if it had been acting a bit off lately.

In his other timeline, safe in his home, he opened up a dossier on the source of the danger, Daniel Hebert the head of the Dockworkers Union, and if Thomas' hypothesis was correct the true identity of the mysterious Praetor. Scanning over the document again Thomas saw exactly what he suspected, the man's life was boring and inconsequential until about three years ago when both his wife and daughter died. After that the man threw himself into his work, taking control of the Dockworkers Union. Under his leadership the union thrived, going from a relic of the cities past to a powerful political force, then it started to expand, quickly bringing other unions under its umbrella. Now you pretty much had to go through it to hire for almost anything in Brockton Bay.

Shifting through the files he opened the PRT's report on the man. During the expansion of the Dockworkers Union they had run a covert investigation on the man, worried that he was some sort of master, but their investigation had resulted in nothing so they dropped it. Glancing down the document he saw the signature of the lead investigator, Agent Williams. His own questioning of the woman had been the event that tipped him off on the flaws in his power, the timelines where he kidnapped her always suddenly collapsing a short time into the interview.

Thad event had also been what tipped him off about Daniel's likely alternate identity. If the rumors about Praetor were true, and rumors where all anyone had to go off of since there were no official sightings of him, he was a trump in the same vein as Teacher, someone who could grant powers. If Daniel had caught onto the investigation and compromised Agent Williams by granting her some kind of anti-thinker power it would explain why he was cleared and why Thomas' power wouldn't work on her.

Thomas wished he could confirm his suspicions but it had proved impossible so far. Timelines where he kidnapped Agent Williams always collapsed before she broke under the torture, and kidnapping Daniel himself had been proving impossible due to the three parahuman bodygaurds the union employed.

They were called Welder, Riveter, and Forge and their team name was The Defenders of the Docks. The PRT had them classified as a Mercenary Hero team employed by the Dockworkers Union. Each of them were a mid level Alexandria package with one unique ability, the PRT believed they were a cluster trigger, three dockworkers who survived an accident that had occurred shortly after Daniel had taken control of the Dockworkers Union. Calvert disagreed, if Daniel was Praetor then him arranging an accident to explain the sudden origin of three new parahumans that were willing to work for him was exactly the sort of thing Thomas would do himself.

In the timeline where he sat in his office Thomas glanced up at the clock, almost time for the meeting. This meeting was inconvenient but it was necessary, Thomas needed to hire some workers to meet his contract and he needed the contract so he could get the resources he needed to start constructing his own base without raising suspicion. That meant he needed to go through the union. This also represented an opportunity, he could use this to gain influence over a powerful parahuman, or use it to open up the opportunity for an assassination if that proved impossible.

A moment later the phone buzzed, his secretary informing him that Daniel had arrived. Thomas told her to let him in and moments later the door to his office opened revealing the man. Thomas rose to greet him, as he did he though he saw over the man's shoulder into his waiting room, where he could just make out the body of his secretary slumped over her desk.

Before he could so much as move Daniel Hebert had closed the distance between them and had his hand around Thomas' throat. The man gave him a smile that looked far to wide as he spoke, "Thank you for calling this meeting, Mr. Calvert, we were worried that we were going to need to risk breaking into your house to get to you within a reasonable time frame before you won that contract."

As he said it Calvert activated the lockdown on his house in his safe timeline. He considered collapsing the timeline but he needed to get more information first. Obviously dealing with Praetor couldn't wait. He also needed to figure out how he had been linked to Coil, he went to great lengths to keep the identities separate.

In the timeline with Daniel Thomas croaked out a question, "What are you going to do to me?"

Daniel's left arm split open revealing a terrifying array of drills and needles as he answered his voice bored, "Just some mild brain surgery, don't worry you won't remember any of the pain after the fact."

The left arm then clamped around his head holding it in place and a terrifyingly long needle lined up with his left eye and started moving forward.

Thomas was about to drop the timeline figuring he would get nothing out of the experience when the clamp around his head suddenly released and the needle retreated, as it did so it closed into a seemingly human arm. Calvert felt the man's other hand release his neck and looked up seeing Daniel's eyes wide with shock.

Daniel regained his composure and spoke, "You are honored Mr. Calvert, the Praetor wishes to speak with you."

Thomas smiled in his safe timeline him waiting until the last second to end the dangerous timeline seemed like it was about to pay off in spades. In the dangerous timeline Thomas massaged his neck and spoke, fishing for more information, "I thought you were Praetor."

Daniel snorted, "I am honored with the position of Tribune, but the Praetor is far above all. Now follow or you will be made to."

Thomas did so. If Praetor was going to show him where they were based he wasn't going to complain, obviously he was going to need to eliminate them and the more information he had the easier it would be. In his safe timeline he was already drawing up plans on how to sick the Protectorate on them. Considering the obvious bio tinkering he had seen it shouldn't be hard to convince Piggot.

As he passed through his the door to his office he once again saw his secretary, a spider that looked to be made out of flesh and metal latched onto her face. Out of its belly he saw multiple needles poking into her flesh and a glistening black liquid being pumped into her.

Entering the elevator he was shocked to see Daniel push the button for the basement, turning to the man he asked, "Where are we going?" But silence was the only response he got.

They exited the elevator into the basement and stopped into the middle of the room. Calvert was about to ask again what they were doing when he felt a rumble through his feet. Looking down he saw a massive drill burst through the ground, opening a hole.

Out of the hole crawled a squat black monster covered in a hard carapace. One of its arms was replaced with the massive drill that had made the hole, while the other was a black fleshy claw. A second one crawled out of the hole and they worked together to widen the opening. Once they completed their task they both stepped back and knelt to Daniel.

The man ignored the two creatures and raised his right hand, a white glow scattering across his fingertips. Across the opening of the hole a platform made of white light appeared. Daniel strode forward onto the platform.

Thomas looked on in shock, he had figured that Praetor was a biotinker from what he had seen so far but hard light seemed pretty far away from that specialty. Before he recovered he felt a claw from one of the drillers grab him around the chest, lifting him up and depositing him on the platform.

As soon as the creature released him the platform began to descend rapidly. As the minutes ticked by Thomas' shock continued to grow, how far underground were they going. Finally, after what felt like half an hour, they were out of the shaft and into a massive lit cavern. In the center stood what looked to be a temple suspended over a lake of glistening black oil.

The size of the temple terrified Calvert, in his safe timeline he was already making plans to leave Brockton Bay. The scale of Praetor's operation baffled the mind. Still he waited, he was safe with his power and the more information he had the better. Maybe he could contact Cauldron about this and they would deal with it, he doubted they like having competition in selling powers.

The platform moved stopping at the entrance to the temple. Daniel stepped forward and into the temple and Thomas followed, the platform he had been standing on blinking out of existence as soon as his foot left it. As they walked forward Daniel paused and pulled him aside into a side room.

As they stepped into it light filled the room and Calvert paused at what he saw. In the center of the room was a machine, a raised platform with a wicked metal claw and a hook hanging from a rail. The rail ran around the room and from it hung bodies, glancing around he saw nearly a dozen identical looking Daniel Heberts as well as many more bodies, some which defied description.

Daniel stepped forward onto the platform and turned around to face Thomas. The hook from the rail lowered latching into his back and raising him into the air. As he reached the top, the back of his head tore itself open and the claw reached in extracting the man's brain. With the brain extracted the head closed again and then the bodies on the rail shifted rotating around the room. When they stopped a massive body that looked like a suit of armor made of white ceramic was in the center of the machine, at the joints he could make out midnight black flesh connecting the plates The head once again opened up and the claw inserted the brain into the new body. The body was lowered to the ground and stepped forward. A deep booming voice emanated from the armored form instructing Calvert to follow and it strode forward from the room.

Thomas followed the armored form as it brought him deeper into the temple leading him to an ornate door, a stylized Phi symbol drawn across its surface. The armored form opened the door and stood back allowing him entry.

Thomas strode into the room, in it stood a massive table. At the head of the table sat what appeared to be a teenage girl with solid black eyes.

Moments after stepping into the room Thomas felt something smash into the back of his right leg forcing him to kneel. Beside him the giant white armor kneeled as well, its booming voice speaking, "Praetor, I have brought you Mr. Calvert as requested."

The girl smiled, "Thank you Tribune. Is that your new war form?"

The armor replied, "Yes, Praetor."

"Wonderful, meet me in the training area after, I would love to see what it can do. Now leave us, I wish to speak with Mr. Calvert alone."

The armor sounded hesitant, "Yes, Praetor."

The armor stood turning to leave the room.

As it left the girl then turned her attention to Thomas her voice becoming a conspiratorial whisper, "You can get up now, Danny is a wonderful tribune but he is very firm on visitors giving me proper honor." The girls smile widened, "One time he proposed creating a body locked into a kneeling stance with its eyes on the floor, and that we just extract every visitor's brain and place it into said body so they wouldn't even have the chance to glimpse my form. I'm pretty sure there is actually a prototype of that sitting somewhere in this temple."

Calvert stood. He hesitated a moment before stepping forward and sitting at the table. The girl continued her voice returning to normal, "Thank you for coming Mr. Calvert, or would you prefer Coil? I have an offer for you."

Thomas decided to take a risk, "I don't believe I had much of a choice Miss Hebert, and Thomas is fine."

The girl's smile never wavered, "Then you may call me Taylor. Thomas, I have called you down here to offer you the chance to join Phyrexia."

Thomas paused, he was going to agree to the deal and then end this timeline before she got a chance to do anything but he needed to hesitate first, "What is Phyrexia?"

"Phyrexia is mankind's future, a society that has that has transcended death." Taylor's voice sounded almost wistful, "We will perfect this world."

"Interesting, and if I refuse." Thomas asked.

"Then you will return to the surface with no memory of this, though you will have a few compulsions that force you to assist with our goals. I assure you, they will feel completely natural to you. You probably won't even notice they are there."

Thomas fished for more information pretending to consider the offer, "That might not be so bad, what compulsions would I have?"

Taylor dropped her smile, "I see, with that daydream of yours you aren't going to take this seriously." Then her eyes flashed blue and Thomas' safe timeline ceased to exist.

Thomas felt a sharp jolt of panic, "What did you do?"

Taylor answered, "I ended that little simulation you had running in your head, the one about you being safe in your home. You need to understand that the choice I am giving you is real not some illusion you can discard at a whim."

Thomas felt panic rise he tried to make a timeline where he fled the room but before he even stood from his chair in it her eyes flashed blue and it ceased to exist.

Thomas looked into her eyes and at the back of his mind he felt power radiating off her. His mind screamed that the thing that sat before him wasn't human. Shocked he asked, "What are you?"

Taylor replied, "I am a Praetor of Phyrexia, here to Compleat this Plane."

As she said the words her eyes flashed blue again and understanding flooded his mind.

Thomas' head rang with the knowledge she just imparted, "What choice is there? Nothing can stop you."

Taylor's smile returned, "A choice between ignorance and knowledge. No matter what you choose you will serve, but you may find yourself happier to live with your illusions for a while yet."

"If I except will I still be me or will I become something else?"

"You will change, Thomas, but that is to be expected." The girl sounded like she was speaking to a child. "Are you the same man that you were before you became a parahuman? I doubt it, becoming more than human changes a man, so when I offer to take you far beyond that point why would you be surprised to find yourself changing again."

Thomas paused to think about it before asking, "But I'll still be me, not some husk carrying out your will."

"If I wanted a husk I would have just let Danny finish turning you into a Sleeper Agent. I want you, Thomas, I can the potential you carry."

Thomas paused, from the understanding that had flashed across his mind earlier he knew that this girl's ambitions far outscaled any he had seen before, even his own, and in those ambitions was the potential for control.

The one thing Calvert craved above all others was control, he was content to limit himself to a city but with her power he could have far more than that. With enough time there may be no limits to the control he could wield, and once he understood her power and perfected his own he could ensure that future came to pass. "I'll accept your offer."

Taylor's smile widened, "Wonderful. I will summon Emma and she will begin the process immediately."

Thomas stood from his chair and turned to the girl bowing deeply, "At your leave, Praetor."

Taylor tilted her head for a moment her smile fading away. "Thomas, there is something I think you need to understand before your compleation."

Her eyes flashed blue once again and Thomas found himself floating in an endless black void. Taylor's voice echoed across his mind. "Your power allows you to ignore the short term consequences of your decisions but they still can have long term ramifications. I will be making you immortal, Mr. Calvert, this is something that can be either a blessing or a curse."

Thomas felt the familiar feeling of his power activating and two timeline present before him. In the first he walked through a city, glorious in its perfection. Surrounding him were hundreds of creatures, each created to fulfill its purpose and best serve his power. As he strode forward through the city each and every one paused to give him his due respect as Tribune. He was under the Mother, as all things were but all else was beneath him. Everything in Phyrexia was created to serve a purpose and his was control.

In the other timeline he felt pain. Every movement he took sent jolts of pain through his body, it was engineered to be that way. His stomach was a pit of unending hunger, but he knew food would never come. The need to eat had been removed from him but the hunger remained. His exhaustion made him want to collapse but he knew sleep would never be allowed, it was unnecessary for him. Before him stood a pile of stones. He bent down and picked one up, doing his best to ignore the pain. Lifting it he walked towards the other pile across the plain. When he was done moving the pile to the other side he would begin again, moving it back to its original decision. As he moved the slave that stood behind him decided that he was not fast enough and he felt the whip arc across his back, electricity arcing from it and coursing through his body. Each day a different slave was chosen to be his overseer, and they indulged themselves relishing in the chance to be on the other side of the whip. Everything in Phyrexia was created to serve a purpose and his was to be an example, to show them all that no matter how low you were you had further you could fall.

Thomas gasped as he once again found himself in the room with the Praetor. He looked up at her, her smile had returned, "I am glad you are joining us Mr. Calvert, I think you can go far in Phyrexia. Though do keep what I just showed you in mind when you decide into whose back you wish to stick your knife."

* * *

A/N: Screw this chapter. Coil is a bitch to write, especially when I need to track how his power interacts with Phyrexia. This was compounded by the fact I couldn't actually explain how his power interacts with Phyrexia in the chapter since neither him nor Taylor actually understand how his power works yet

In case anyone is curious Coil's power works by creating two simulations, each one based on the outcome of a decision that he made. The power then figures out which one Coil would chose at the point where he would chose to end the simulation and forces him to make that decision. The problem is that Phyrexia is extraplanar so the shard lacks the data to actually predict what a phyrexian will do. If this was occurring a century or so in the future the shard would have enough info on Phyrexia to actually predict what they would do, for now it is working on best guesses from its observations of the players.

So when Coil kidnapped Agent Williams his power knew that he would choose the timeline where he didn't kidnap her so it created the other timeline and simulated to the point where she would start to answer questions, then it stopped since it couldn't actually predict what any of the answers would be. On the other hand with Danny his power did its best guess based on Danny's previous actions. In every other situation where Danny met with someone to discuss a contract he discussed the contract as the head of the union and then left so the power figured that is what would happen and made Coil choose that timeline. The problem was that Taylor needed Thomas Calvert to be turned for her plans (you'll understand why when they get revealed later) so Danny went with orders to turn him, orders that his power had no ability to predict at the point that it made its decision. The sleeper agent orders got swapped at the last second when Taylor happened to scan his mind and realize that he was a parahuman and that is how the chapter happened.

Anyway, I'm still not completely happy with this chapter but at this point I just don't want to write it anymore. Don't expect his perspective again anytime soon. Hopefully the next chapter I put out won't take as long. If things go according to plan it will be the next chapter of The Lady of the Flies (but the question of what the odds are for that actually happening happening with my fickle muse I leave to the reader).


End file.
